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This week Samsung pulled a familiar trick: it released an rugged ‘Active’ version of its flagship Galaxy smartphone. But the Galaxy S7 Active is much more than just tough as it has some major upgrades which arguably make it a better phone than the Galaxy S7.Let’s break them down...

Design - Style Vs Practicality

The most obvious difference between these phones is physical. Whereas the Galaxy S7 is a stylish, svelte glass and aluminium beauty, the Galaxy S7 Active is a rubber clad beast:

Yes the Galaxy S7 Active weighs 20% more than the Galaxy S7, it’s thicker and looks like it is permanently wearing a thick protective case. But this is the point as the Galaxy S7 Active is built to withstand drops and its display has a particularly special quality (more next).

Like the Galaxy S7, the Galaxy S7 Active is IP68 certified making it dust proof and water resistant in over 1.5m of water for up to 30 minutes. It’s also MIL-STD-810G certified which means it has no problem with salt, humidity, rain, vibration, solar radiation and is thermal shock resistant.

You got it. While the Galaxy S7’s Gorilla Glass 4 does its best to withstand drops, the Galaxy S7 Active has additional shatter resistance which means - should it drop and break - any crack will be isolated and won’t spread across the phone. It’s the difference between a ruined phone and one you can keep using.

You can drop and bash the Galaxy S7 Active and it will come out unharmed. Image credit: Samsung

Aside from this, the Galaxy S7 Active is identical to the Galaxy S7. This is a very good thing as Samsung smartphone displays are currently the benchmark for the rest of the industry.

Performance - Power Packed And Smart

The Galaxy S7 Active is also no slouch because it packs identical internals to the lighting quick Galaxy S7:

The Snapdragon 820 is standard in most premium smartphones now (at least until the Galaxy Note 6) but this is for a reason: it’s a brilliant performer which doesn’t suffer the same thermal throttling issues as 2015’s Snapdragon 810 while delivering 30% and 64% more CPU and GPU speed respectively.

That said the Galaxy S7 Active won’t get a Exynos variant (Samsung’s own chipset brand) which has been shown to be even quicker and also consume less power. Exynos powered Galaxy S7’s are currently only available outside America and right now the Galaxy S7 Active is US-only (though that could change).

The Galaxy S7 Active has a fingerprint reader making it the first Active model to do so. Image... [+] credit: Samsung

Lastly you’ll find a fingerprint reader which - while reinforced - is every bit as fast and accurate as the one on the Galaxy S7. This is a first for the Active range.

Cameras - Samsung Sets The Pace

In 2015 Samsung took the smartphone camera crown off
Apple with the Galaxy S6 and it has extended its lead with the Galaxy S7. And the Galaxy S7 Active keeps the same cameras:

My Galaxy S7 review breaks down its performance in detail, but the key takeaways are its class leading near-instantaneous focus time and superb low light performance. If the camera is important to you, then right now the Galaxy S7 range is the best available.

But the Galaxy S7 Active does pack one small benefit over the standard Galaxy S7: its extra thickness means the camera module is swallowed up and the bump on the rear is slightly less noticeable.

Battery Life - The Big Differentiator

Now here is where things get interesting. Samsung promotes the Galaxy S7 Active as the most practical phone you can buy and this shines through with a huge differentiator between the two models:

Galaxy S7 - 3000 mAh capacity battery

Galaxy S7 Active - 4000 mAh capacity battery

Yes, the Galaxy S7 Active’s battery is one third larger than the Galaxy S7 and Samsung claims this will deliver true all day battery life, even with heavy use. In fact
AT&T claims you’ll get a massive 32 hours of talk time from a single charge.

Speaking of charging, despite its rugged exterior, the Galaxy S7 Active also supports wireless charging as well as fast charging. So this is a phone with serious stamina and great flexibility.

As this point you might be sold on the Galaxy S7 Active, but there’s one significant downside of all its extra durability and stamina, cost:

Galaxy S7 - $699 (32GB)

Galaxy S7 Active - $799 (32GB)

That $100 premium might prove prohibitive for some, especially as it follows the Galaxy S7 in offering just 32GB of native storage. There is a microSD card which means you can pack out the memory, but a selection of 64/128/256GB options really should be available given Samsung leads the way in development of smartphone storage (which it mostly sells to Apple).

While the Galaxy S7 Active doesn’t come cheap, for those not obsessed about looks it is probably the best Galaxy smartphone you can buy right now. It is far more durable than the standard Galaxy S7, lasts longer on a charge and yet packs the same superb performance and class leading camera.

If you want a rugged, powerful, long lasting smartphone that’s great at photography the Galaxy S7 Active stands head and shoulders above the pack.

I am an experienced freelance technology journalist. I have written for Wired, The Next Web, TrustedReviews, The Guardian and the BBC in addition to Forbes. I began in

…

I am an experienced freelance technology journalist. I have written for Wired, The Next Web, TrustedReviews, The Guardian and the BBC in addition to Forbes. I began in b2b print journalism covering tech companies at the height of the dot com boom and switched to covering consumer technology as the iPod began to take off.
A career highlight for me was being a founding member of TrustedReviews. It started in 2003 and we were repeatedly told websites could not compete with print! Within four years we were purchased by IPC Media (Time Warner's publishing division) to become its flagship tech title.
What fascinates me are the machinations of technology's biggest companies. Got a pitch, tip or leak? Contact me on my professional Facebook page. I don't bite.